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Blog summary: Pre-FEED engineering is more vital now than it has ever been. It helps operators make informed decisions and create efficiencies from the outset. Aquaterra Energy’s pre-FEED studies cover key areas such as offshore platform suitability, layout, schedule, and material take off. In this blog we discuss definitions, a specific Aquaterra study and the importance of pre-FEED engineering in 2023.

Why pre-FEED engineering is more important than ever

The energy transition is not only changing how and where we produce energy but it’s increasingly putting pressure on ensuring that projects are executed and commissioned efficiently, especially as the world grapples with the fallout from political and economic headwinds. And that means Pre-Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) engineering is more important than ever.

What is pre-FEED engineering?

Pre-FEED engineering is the initial stage of a project where concepts are defined, and early requirements are assessed to ensure that the most suitable field development solution is proposed. It ensures that by the time the project reaches FEED, significant design decisions are confirmed, risks are mitigated and executional elements such as budget, lead times and overall project timelines are understood and agreed. This makes pre-FEED engineering a vital project management tool as the deeper into a project necessary changes are identified, the more difficult and expensive they become to implement.

“The relationship between the Cost of Changes to the design and the ease of ability to make these changes”, by Guo H, licensed under CC BY 4.0

This then serves as the foundation for the project, before heading into more cost intensive stages, such as detailed design. This provides a deeper level of understanding and confidence to operators to continue with the project and create timeline efficiencies.

At Aquaterra Energy, we undertake numerous pre-FEED studies to help our clients make better informed strategic decisions about their projects including areas such as:

• Confirming the suitability of development options or a specific platform type, such as a conductor supported platform
• Platform deck layout demonstrating key equipment positions
• Develop more detailed project schedules for FEED, detailed design, fabrication, installation and commissioning
• Review differing fabrication locations and construction/installation options
• Material take off detailing key primary structural steel on the substructure and topsides

Pre-FEED study in action

We recently completed a pre-FEED study for a global energy company looking to enhance its field development offshore Nigeria with the addition of another platform. The operator had previously considered a much larger platform but was looking to optimise the platform design whilst maintaining the planned well count.

The purpose of the study was to provide the operator with a yes/no recommendation for the offshore platform’s viability, within the parameters outlined within the Basis of Design, and considering key factors such as water depth, fatigue assessments and topside weight sensitivities. We evaluated against the key drivers for the project, including HSSE, integrity, reliability, security, and CAPEX. A lightweight, three deck approach was presented, and the design was continually optimised during the pre-FEED process.

The recommended optimal solution was a conductor supported platform, which offered a lightweight, minimum facility and unmanned topside, meeting all parameters specified. The proposed approach helped the operator to realise several future efficiency savings. By providing a platform concept that could be installed by the on-site jack-up rig and due to the initial progress of the pre-FEED studies, the need for a separate FEED study was eliminated, saving circa four months on the project timeline.

With the economic situation putting pressure on making projects economically viable, pre-FEED is more important than ever to understand and mitigate project risks and create efficiencies from the outset. Our expert team can help you fully realise these outcomes and provide the best end-to-end solution for your field development needs.

Want to know more? Get in touch.

Resources

Guo, Heer. (2022). Implications for Self-organising in Managing Construction Projects. Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management. 6. 28-31. 10.54097/fbem.v6i2.2636.

Key takeaways:

In this piece we have answered:

What is pre-feed engineering?

Pre-FEED engineering is the initial stage of a project where concepts are defined and early requirements are assessed to ensure that the most suitable field development solution is proposed.

Why is pre-feed engineering important?

Pre-FEED ensures that by the time the project reaches FEED, significant design decisions are confirmed, risks are mitigated and executional elements such as budget, lead times and overall project timelines are understood and agreed.

What is pre-feed engineering’s application in the oil and gas industry?

Pre-FEED involves preliminary assessments, conceptual design, and cost estimation to evaluate the potential of a project before committing to the more detailed engineering work of FEED.